'Out Of A Sack' | Up-cycling Cement Sacks & Paper Bags

•

My penultimate semester project has us involved in a factual understanding of the terms mostly relating to waste management. I learnt the basic difference between recycling and upcycling waste. Whereas recycling is generally the norm worldwide, upcycling in that sense is more of a design oriented method, which is being tried in the fast and growing economy. It means giving a new lease of life aesthetically and functionally to an otherwise waste product or a product meant for recycling.

I experimented with and made a number of prototypes using the so called waste products.

I chose plastic cement sacks and paper bags, considering the materials' property of being stiff, strong and waterproof. Various prototypes I developed were Mobile Cover, Travel Toiletry Bag, Spectacle Case, Wallets, Sling Bag, and each of these was a strong and aesthetically pleasant looking product that could be easily used. I then had to decide on a final product to showcase the successful upcycling of the waste cement sacks.

Mobile Cover

Travel Toiletry Bag

Spectacle Case

Men's Wallet

Women's Wallet

Sling Bag

In todays technology driven world, the one thing that every person possess is a laptop. And to add a bit of variety to its accessories, one would not mind having an additional cover for it. So I planned on making a sleek and smart laptop sleeve which the user would be able to use essentially as a covering for the laptop.

Whereas paper gave the sleeve structure, the plastic sack gave it durability, and a layer of soft felt material on the inside gave it a padding and smoothness for the laptop to easily slide in. The portrait or landscaped aligned sleeve with a covering flap on the top was put together with hand stitched embroidery on three sides.

I wanted to make this a handmade craft product and keep it as simple as possible because my intention was to get low-income women to be able to learn to make this from scratch and supplement their income.

Sketches for the Laptop Sleeve